Path of Dragons

The moment Elijah stepped into the room, his instincts went wild. Without thought, he threw himself to the side. Still, he felt something pierce his scales, embedding in his back hip. Still, he didn’t let a single sound emerge from his mouth. Instead, he skidded to a stop, slipping a little on the now-bloody tile floor before turning to face his attacker.

He’d been exploring the wing for what felt like hours, and the whole time, he’d found no inhabitants. So, he was more than a little surprised to see four men on the other side of the room. Each one was wearing black fatigues, reminding Elijah of Isaiah’s men back in Seattle. However, Elijah could tell from their stances alone that these new foes were far more capable than those men and women.

More, he suspected that they were all former military.

Living in Hawaii, Elijah had encountered plenty of Navy personnel, so he’d learned to identify them just by their bearing. It was similar to how some people could recognize police, even when they were off-duty. Regardless, Elijah felt almost certain that he was facing a quartet of hardened soldiers.

One held a crossbow, telling him what he had embedded in his hip. Another had a sword and shield. The third carried a staff. And the fourth was armed with a mace. Elijah didn’t need to see them use any abilities to recognize their identities. The shield-bearer was a protector, the staff-wielder was a Sorcerer, and the man with the mace was probably the Healer. The soldier with the crossbow was a Ranger.

As Elijah had learned from the elves as well as his dealings in Seattle and Argos, it was the preferred party composition for those who made a living running towers.

“Reloading,” the man with the crossbow said, dragging another bolt out of the quiver at his waist.

“Advancing,” said the defender, stepping forward, his shield held in front of him. Then, he let out a shout that cut right through every facet of Elijah’s mind. Suddenly, all he could think about was attacking the man with the shield. It wasn’t until a second later, when he instinctively shunted that anger to its own facet, where he quarantined it, that he realized what had happened.

The man had tried to force him to attack the least vulnerable among them, which was the absolute worst strategy for anyone who wanted to win. Still, it represented an opportunity. So, he stepped toward the man, a low growl emitting from his throat.

Still, Elijah didn’t alter course.

Ethera swirled around the Sorcerer, while the Ranger finished reloading. Meanwhile, the protector prepared to meet Elijah. Just as everything reached a crescendo, he used Flicker Step, disappearing at the same moment a ball of fire and another crossbow bolt tore across the room.

But Elijah was gone, and less than an instant later, he appeared behind the Healer. Using Venom Strike, he launched himself at the man. He didn’t go for the head, though. Instead, he raked his claws across the man’s leg, amputating it in a single swipe. Then, he bounded away, and it was just in time, too, because the defender hadn’t been idle.

Even as the Healer collapsed, the shield-bearer charged. But he was too slow, because Elijah had already changed direction, darting at the Sorcerer. The man swung his staff, but Elijah ducked low, avoiding the attack before throwing himself at the man’s chest. He hit with enough force to knock the Sorcerer from his feet.

Elijah ripped through an ethereal shield – all Sorcerers seemed to have that spell – and into his chest, eviscerating his flesh with a half-dozen gouging attacks, each one delivering Contagion and Venom Strike. The defender followed Elijah, though his movements were too clumsy. He let out another shout, but it was just as useless as before.

Leaping high into the air, Elijah kicked off the wall to change direction, then descended upon the Ranger. To his credit, the man reacted quickly, throwing out his hand and producing an ethereal net. However, Elijah had the benefit of high Dexterity as well as the Haste from the Sash of the Whirlwind, so it wasn’t difficult to dodge the skill. He hit the ground, then pounced on the Ranger, treating him much the same as he had the Sorcerer.

Yet, the new target was much stronger than the spellcaster, and he only staggered a bit, rather than being knocked to his back. Elijah didn’t care; he only needed to scratch the man a few times, and when he did, he kicked away, returning to the door.

The defender didn’t follow.

That’s when Elijah heard the screams.

“Heal me!” growled the Ranger through gritted teeth. His face was pale, and it was already wet with sweat.

The Healer was worse, but then again, he’d had a leg amputated, and he was trying to reattach it to the stump. Ethera swirled around him as he desperately tried to heal the damage well enough that the loss wasn’t permanent.

Because of that, he was too distracted to heal the Ranger or the Sorcerer, both of whom were in dire straits.

The defender stomped on the ground, and to Elijah’s surprise, a dome of pure ethera bloomed into being. He swiped at it, but he was shocked to find that it remained entirely solid.

The defender shouted, “See to the others, Mark!”

“Trying to reattach my goddamn leg, Bill!”

“And they’re dying, and my Barrier won’t last forever!”

“Fine!”

Mark waved his mace, and immediately, the Sorcerer started to look a bit better. He repeated the motion, and the Ranger began to recover, too. However, Elijah knew from experience that a simple healing spell wouldn’t do much for those afflictions. As far as he’d seen, it was incredibly difficult to remove them. Sure, he’d read a few guides that suggested that such afflictions were removable via specific spells, but otherwise, they would have to run their course.

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The Sorcerer vomited, spewing blood on the floor.

“What’s going on with them?!” demanded the defender, still facing Elijah. “I thought you could heal anything!”

“I don’t fucking know! What the hell is that thing?”

Elijah sighed, then shifted into his human form. That drew a few gasps, but before any of them could say anything, he stated, “I’m not a thing. I’m human, same as you.”

“What? Is that some kind of shapeshifter?” spat the defender.

“Something like that,” Elijah said, pacing back and forth. He was ready to switch to his lamellar ape form the moment the shield went down. “Why are you dressed differently than all the other guards I’ve killed?”

“We’re not guards,” the defender said. He turned his head, checking the others out of the corner of his eye. The healer still hadn’t been successful in reattaching his leg, and though he’d continued to heal the others, the afflictions continued unabated. “Why are you here?”

“This and that.”

“You killed the other guards?” the defender asked.

Elijah nodded.

“Why?”

“They deserved it. So do you,” Elijah said. “The second this shield drops, I’m going to rip you all to pieces. Your healer’s running low on ethera, right? He won’t have enough to keep you alive through what I’m about to do.”

“Why? We’ve done nothing to you!”

“Not directly. But the man in charge of this city took someone very dear to me,” Elijah explained. “He’s going to die. And so is everyone who –”

“Are you talking about that putz who keeps calling himself a king?”

“I am.”

“Kill him, then! We don’t care! We’re just mercenaries, man. He hired us to help him run through some towers. That’s all we’ve done. We haven’t killed any people. We don’t participate in his little schemes. We haven’t fought in his wars. We’ve only killed monsters, man – I swear!”

To Elijah, that had the ring of truth, but he knew that desperation could drive people to be very convincing in their lies. More, from everything he knew about Roman, it tracked. The stories he’d heard had painted the man as a hands-off sort of leader. A lead-from-the-back type. The only reason it had worked was because of the results. From the very beginning, Easton had been a safe haven for the survivors. People would ignore a lot of character flaws if it meant they were safe from the literal monsters roaming the wilderness.

“You attacked me.”

“We thought you were a Voxx!”

That took Elijah aback. “How could you think that?”

“You’re big, scary, and scaley. That sounds like Voxx to me, man.”

Elijah was about to respond, but he thought better of it. Sure, the Voxx were easily recognizable to him, but much of that was due to the fact that he could sense the wrongness within them. It wasn’t so different from when he encountered monsters, though it was far stronger. However, without that to clue him in, he had to admit that, at a glance, his bestial forms could be mistaken for Voxx.

And that irritated him.

Still, Elijah took control of himself, asking, “What do you propose?”

“Let us go. We’ll be out of this city before sunrise. Never looking back. Just gone. You can do what you need to do,” Bill, the defender stated.

“And I’m just supposed to trust you?” Elijah asked.

The man cocked his head to the side and raised his hand with two fingers extended. “Scout’s honor?”

“Wrong salute, Bill,” coughed the Ranger.

“It’s the thought that counts,” Bill insisted. Then, he looked at Elijah, venturing, “Right?”

It was probably smarter to just kill them. However, Elijah was brought up short by two things. First, they’d actually put up a decent fight, and now that they’d had a chance to regroup, there was a good chance that they’d be even more difficult to dispatch. Second, he actually believed the defender’s story. They weren’t wearing the same gear as all the rest of the guards, which suggested they were outsiders like Bill had claimed.

And in the back of Elijah’s mind, there was a thought he didn’t really want to acknowledge. He’d already killed a lot of people. Adding to that body count was inevitable. In addition to killing Roman – which was non-negotiable – he would almost assuredly be forced to fight on his way out. He accepted that, and he’d already painted the blue-and-white clad guards with the same brush he’d used with Roman and his closest allies.

But he didn’t want to be the sort of person who’d slaughter people just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. There had to be a line.

It was only when he examined those thoughts that he realized that he’d already made his choice. Perhaps it would come back to bite him, but that was a risk he intended to accept. Besides, they’d already tried to ambush him and failed miserably. If they tried again, he’d do what was necessary.

“Fine.”

“Fine?”

“I won’t kill you,” Elijah said. “Not now. But if you get in my way…”

The man held up his hand, saying, “I get it. Believe me, we just want out of here. Been wanting that for a while, actually. That guy is insane.”

“How so?”

“He’s a believer,” said Bill. “A true believer. He thinks he’s going to save the world or some shit.”

“Fucking lunatic,” added the Ranger. “Good goddamn riddance.”

The others voiced their agreement.

Elijah asked, “Where is he?”

Bill shrugged. “Not sure. But here’s how you get to his rooms,” the defender answered. Then, he described the path Elijah would need to take. It was a good thing, too, because it would have taken a while for Elijah to figure it out. The route featured more than a few switchbacks and a couple of half-hidden passages. “He’s paranoid as shit, man. Thinks everyone’s out to get him. They probably are, but still…”

Elijah gave the man a nod of thanks, then said, “Don’t get in my way.”

Without another word, he shifted back into his draconid form and left the room. The moment he was out of sight, he used Guise of the Unseen. He could still sense the men behind him, so he watched them for long enough to establish that they were going to make good on their promise. As soon as the shield dropped, they started to pack. Or Bill did. The others were too busy trying to counteract Elijah’s ongoing afflictions.

With the Wolf Totem, they lasted quite a long time, after all.

Satisfied that they would do as they’d said, Elijah followed the man’s directions through the wing until, at last, he arrived in a well-appointed suite. It reminded him a little of the Reaver’s quarters in the second tower he’d conquered, though there were a few modern conveniences that set it apart. In addition, it featured a wide balcony that overlooked the city.

That’s where Elijah waited for Roman.

It took almost an hour before the man showed up. Elijah watched his sister’s murderer, idly cataloguing his features. He was a tall man, broad-shouldered and with salt-and-pepper hair. He wore the armor Carmen had made, and at his hip was the sword she’d been forced to create.

False Dragon Fang, it was called.

That both annoyed and amused him. The former because he hated the notion of associating dragons with someone as despicable as Roman. However, his amusement came because the system had intended the name mockingly. Or that was how Elijah saw it, at least.

But Elijah wasn’t concerned with the man’s equipment, especially once he removed it, hanging the armor on a dressing mannequin in the closet and propping the still-sheathed sword by the bed.

Elijah watched as his sister’s murderer entered the bathroom, emerging only twenty minutes later, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. Then, Roman enjoyed a glass of some sort of liquor before, at last, climbing into bed. Elijah waited until, via One with Nature, he sensed that the man’s breathing had evened out, indicating that he was asleep.

His first instinct was to kill Roman slowly. To dismember him piece by piece, all the while ignoring the inevitable pleas for mercy. Yet, Elijah pushed that desire aside in favor of expedience. He just wanted Roman dead. He wanted it to be over. Perhaps then he could move on, secure in the knowledge that he’d avenged Alyssa’s murder.

Did Roman deserve a clean death?

No.

Emphatically.

However, Elijah knew that, if he went down that road, there was a good chance that he’d regret staining his soul in such a way. Better to simply kill the man and be done.

So, he padded into the room, used Venom Strike as well as Predator Strike, then pounced.

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